Cupid Mushi
by WhistlingShadows
Summary: Aika runs away from home to escape from her family conflicts. She lived with her cousin, Tanyuu until Ginko came along...
1. Herbal Remedy

**This is a fanfic remake of the fanfic I made a couple of years back on a website called quizilla... I just had the urge to re make Mushishi, becauseeee Ginko is my babyyy! 3 xD This is for a friend of mine... Hi Lindsey! xD**

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Ginko makes his way to Tanyuu's house. From the bottom of the hill, he sees someone sitting at the top of the hill. He walks up there to see a young girl, with long black hair, that blew in the wind. She was sketching something. She was sketching little mushi. Apparently, she could see them, but the way she was looking at them, she was looking at them from afar as if she'd scare them off if they got any closer.

"You're really good at drawing..." Ginko says to her.

Startled, the girl looked up to see Ginko looking down at her smiling. She grabbed her paper and drawing utensils and then ran off, into Tanyuu's house.

_Guess I scared her..._ He thought

Being the chill and laid back guy he is, Ginko just continued to walk to the house at the same slow pace he walks anywhere else. When he arrives, he notices that Tanyuu's house was almost all mushi free. Even though Ginko can attract a few mushi, there seemed to have only been a few. He knocks on the door. Tama looks at the entrance to see who it was.

"Oh, Ginko..." Tama replies.

"It's been a while..." Ginko says. Tama opens the door to let him in. Ginko takes off his shoes, and puts down his things.

"How is Tanyuu?" he asks

"Same as always. She's awake in the other room..." Tama replies.

"I'll go pay her a visit and then I'll view the archives again." Ginko says. As he follows Tama to Tanyuu's room.

"Wait here..." she says. Tama slides open the door.

"Tanyuu, Ginko is here..."

"Yes, please send him in..." Tanyuu says from inside the room. Tama slides the door open to let Ginko in, and then she shuts it behind him.

"It's been a while, Tanyuu." Ginko said as he notices the girl he saw from earlier.

"Ah...Hello" He greets the girl. The girl jumps up in surprise, and tries to hide behind Tanyuu

"Tan-Nee, That's the guy I was telling you about." whispers the girl

"I thought so..." Chuckles Tanyuu.

"This is Ginko. He's a Mushishi..." Tanyuu says. Ginko sits down infront of them.

"Sorry if I startled you earlier." He says.

"Don't worry, He's a friend of mine. You can trust him, I promise..." The girl stares at Ginko for a bit, as Ginko stares back. Then she comes out from behind Tanyuu, and sits beside her...

"This is Aika. She's my younger cousin." Says Tanyuu.

"...It's...nice to meet you, Ginko-San..." She said in a nervous way.

"Like wise..." replies Ginko.

"So, I'm guessing you came to visit Tanyuu. How very kind of you." Ginko smiles. Ginko has this nice crooked smile, that made Aika blushed a little.

"Well, She's here because...-" Tanyuu begins to say.

"Uh...actually, this is the first time I get to see Tanyuu in a very long time. My mother and father wouldn't let me see her. And one day, I plucked up the courage to run away from home to come visit." Aika interupts.

"They don't know she's actually here, so she has to lay low for a while..." says Tanyuu.

"I see..." He says.

"Tanyuu, I can't help but notice that your place has almost no mushi surrounding it since I got here. Is there some kind of herbal remedy I should know about...?" he asks. Tanyuu giggles.

"The herbal remedy is right here..." Tanyuu points at Aika.

"Ever since Aika was born, she was able to ward off almost all the mushi from all around her. So far, not a single Mushishi knows why or how she even got this ability, but it does come in handy..."

"That's amazing!" Ginko said in astonishment.

Aika blushes.

Tama brings in tea for the three of them.

"...So, I'll go ahead and tell you some of the new mushi stories..." Says Ginko.

-0-0-0-0-

After telling the story, Tanyuu writes down what Ginko had said. After that, Tanyuu grew tired, and laid down to rest. Both Ginko and Aika left the room quietly. Tama allows Ginko to take a look at the archives. While that goes on, Aika just sits around looking at the tiny little mushi that have gathered since Ginko's arrival.

A knock on the door startles Aika. Tama goes to see who it was.

It turned out to be Aika's father.

"Tama, let me in! I know my daughter is in there!" He yells from the other side. As Aika heard her father's voice, she turned away to hide, but she bumped into Ginko, who came upstairs as soon as he heard the commotion.

"I apologize Hiro, but Aika is not here..." Tama says politely.

"You're protecting her, aren't you...? She can't hide for ever. Open up, or I'll break the door open!" Aika's father yells

"What's going on?" Ginko asks. Aika runs behind Ginko.

"My father is here to take me home..." she whispers. All the noise woke up Tanyuu from her nap.

"Aika, come this way..." Tanyuu whispers. Aika turns to follow her cousin out back, and so does Ginko. Tanyuu hops to the door and opens it.

"You can escape this way. Tama and I will stall him. Run as far away as you can..." says Tanyuu.

"Thank you..." Aika bows to her.

"I'll go with her..." says Ginko. He grabs Aika's hand and pulls her away. The two run over the the hill.

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**I REALLY hoped you guys like it! PLEASE COMMENT if you can! D: If something is wrong, please let me know, I'll fix it!**


	2. Betrothed

Out of sight and out of breath, Ginko and Aika both stopped running.

"Let's stop here. This is far enough. Are you okay?" asked Ginko. Aika was panting heavily. Normally, girls her size and shape have no problem running. But even when she's out of breath, she seemed like she hasn't run her entire life, until today.

"I'm fine, I just need to catch my breath..." Aika replies.

"Aika, have you ever run before?"

"No. Father and mother have kept me inside my entire life. As a child, my body wasn't as strong as other children. For my own safety, my parents have kept me inside, and I have never stepped foot outside, before." said Aika. Her stomach rumbled. She quickly clenched it, as she blushed.

"Hungry huh? Me too." Ginko smirked.

"Can you walk normally now?" he asked.

Aika nods her head.

Ginko points to a nearby village.

"Let's stop there and rest for a while..." Ginko said.

"Okay," Aika said faintly.

And so, they slowly made their way to the village. As they arrived, they searched for a place to eat.

"How about we go to that noodle shop?" Ginko points at the shop ahead of them.

"Um…okay" Aika replied

They entered the shop. They were greeted by a waitress, who asked what they would like to eat.

"I will have soba noodles. And what about you, Aika?" Ginko asks

"I don't know. Can you choose for me?" Aika replies

"Mmm…How about ramen?"

"Sure…"

"She'll have a ramen please." Ginko said to the waitress.

"Right away, sir." Replies the waitress.

There was a silence between the two.

"So… you've never eaten noodles either?" Ginko asks.

Aika blushed and shook her head.

"Do your parents let you do _anything_?" Aika did not reply. All she did was blush.

"Your food is ready" said the waitress, as she sets down their food.

Ginko picks up his chop sticks and begins to eat. He looks at Aika, who just stares at her food.

"Something the matter? Do you want me to get you something else?" Aika shakes her head.

"No. I'm just very nervous about trying this."

"Trust me, it's delicious" Ginko grins.

Aika blushes, then picks up her chopsticks. She slurps the noodles. She burned her tongue. It was too hot for her. When her parents provided food for her, they made sure that it was not too hot, nor too cold.

"You okay?" Ginko said in a bit of worry

Aika nodded. She held back the tears she had from burning her mouth. It was delicious. She continued eating.

After eating, they sat there, resting.

"Ugh, I'm so full…" Ginko patted his stomach.

Ginko looked over at Aika who just looked down at her lap fidgeting with her fingers.

She then let out a tiny burp. Embarrassed, she blushed, covered her mouth and said, "E…Excuse me…"

Ginko chuckled, while thinking how adorable that was.

It became dark after they had left the noodle shop, so Ginko looked for an Inn to rest for the night.

"I apologize. All but one of our rooms are taken. We will provide you with an extra futon if you like." said the person at the inn. Ginko looked at Aika for approval. She slowly nodded her head.

Ginko opened the door to the room. It was fairly the right size for two to three people. The two sat waiting for the extra futon to arrive, but it never did.

"Here." Knowing that Aika has poor health, Ginko willingly gave Aika the futon. "I have an extra blanket in my pack, so you can take this."

"A…Are you sure? Will you be warm enough without it?" Aika said. She knows that Ginko gave her the futon because of her health, but she didn't want Ginko to freeze to death.

"Yes, I'll be fine. Don't worry." Ginko smiled faintly.

That night, Aika couldn't sleep. She's nervous about sleeping in a different place other than her home. And the fact that Ginko, a man, is sleeping in the same room, makes her even more nervous. She heard a sniffle and a sneeze from the other side of the room.

She turns to see Ginko with his back turned. She could tell that he was cold. Quietly, she got up, and steadily walked to Ginko, silently tip-toeing, making an effort to not make the floor creak. She carried with her, the futon. She placed it next to him, and gently tried to roll him over onto the futon, hoping not to wake him.

At last, she had successfully rolled him onto the futon. The futon was fairly big enough, so she slept on the farther side of the futon, nearly close to the edge. She turned away from Ginko. She felt a little scared that Ginko might get mad that they are sharing a futon.

Suddenly, She heard Ginko moaning, as he rolled over, facing Aika's back. His breathing tickled Aika's neck. It sent chills down her spine, as she blushed. After a while, Ginko had turned himself away from Aika. Aika grew tired, and finally fell asleep.

The next morning, Ginko woke up. The first thing he noticed was that he was sleeping in a futon. He quickly sat up. The room door had slowly slid open to reveal Aika, who had brought breakfast.

"Ah…Ginko-San, Good morning" Aika said, as she saw Ginko.

"Morning…" Ginko pointed to the futon. "Did you put me in this futon?" he asked.

"Y…Yes." Aika replied. "You were cold, and I thought you would become ill, so I..." Aika's didn't finish her sentence. She assumed that Ginko would know the rest.

"So we slept together…?" Ginko asked.

"Yes…I'm sorry." Aika said, as she clenched the tray of their food, and looking down at it.

"It's fine. You don't need to apologize. Thank you for worrying about my health." Ginko smiled. Aika smiled back.

She brought the food in, and set it on a small table that was at the corner of the room. Ginko went to wash up. They both sat down and began eating. For a brief moment, they did not exchange words.

"So…did I do anything last night…?" Ginko asked. He was worried that he might've touched her while he was asleep. Aika thought back about last night. He didn't do anything, not that she knew of. Except for when he was breathing down her neck at one point. Aika began to blush. Ginko, upon seeing her reaction, said,

"I touched you didn't I? I am so sorry. I didn't mean to…" Ginko slightly blushed.

"No, No, you didn't touch me. I was just thinking about how nervous I was, sleeping with a man in the same futon, that's all." Aika reassured him.

"Oh, then good…" Ginko said, with a nervous smile. The two of them continued to eat.

After eating, they had left the Inn.

"Your father should be gone by now. I should take you home." Ginko said. Aika froze. Ginko looked at her.

"What's the matter?" he asked. Aika quickly hid behind Ginko.

"My father…" she whispered. Up ahead, Ginko spots a man, suspiciously looking around, and stopping people to ask questions.

"He's your father?" Ginko whispered.

"Yes…" Aika whispers back.

"Maybe we could talk to him. You only came to visit Tanyuu right? I'm sure he won't be angry with you."

"No, you don't understand."

"What? What don't I understand?"

"When I said that I left to visit Tanyuu, it was half true. There is another reason why I left my home."

"What is I then? Why are you terrified that your father will catch you?" Ginko asked. Aika's father was heading in their direction. Aika gripped Ginko's arm tightly.

"Please, I don't want to go back there…" Aika's voice sounded frightened and desperate. Without any other questions, He grabs her hand and runs off with her. Aika's father did not notice her, for a wave of people were blocking his view. The two had managed to make a clean get away. They had finally exited the village, and were headed to the next one. On their way there, Ginko couldn't help but ask what was frightening Aika.

"Why are you afraid of going home? Did your family hurt you?" Aika shook her head. At first, Aika did not say anything, she was finding the right words to explain to him.

"I am to be betrothed…" Aika finally said. "I must marry so that both my family, and another family have close ties. I must be married so that I can bear children to carry on our family bloodlines."

"So you are afraid of getting married." Ginko said. Aika nods

"I don't want marry a man I don't love…" Aika says. Ginko looks at her with sympathy.

Ginko's pack begins rattling. The two stop in their tracks. Ginko sets down his pack on a nearby rock. He opens his pack. Aika sees many small draws, she spots one in particular that was shaking uncontrollably. Ginko pulls open the shaking draw.

He pulls out an egg-like object. Aika knows what it is. She has seen Mushishi use them to send and receive letters. It is the cocoon that holds the Uro-san. Ginko opens the cocoon. He puts a stick in the small opening, and pulls out a letter. He reads it to himself.

"We have to head west. Someone is requesting for help with a mushi problem." Ginko says.

"It will be a long journey to get there. Are you prepared for this?" He asks.

"Yes." Aika replies. Aika has never seen a Mushishi in action before. Now she will, for the first time.

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**Hoped you guys liked this chapter! I'm sorry it took me so long to update this chapter. I have had so many things going on, I didn't have the time. Now I DO have time, So I am going to make myself update a chapter every week. Please, comment on this fanfic if you have the time to do so. I'd really appreciate it. I get motivated by your comments :P**


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